Chinese Government Denies Implication In Google Hack

The Chinese government has denied any official involvement in cyber attacks that was revealed by Google nearly two weeks ago, which has led to some serious debate over the country’s internet censoring policies.

The denial came after it was accused by Google and the US government. via the Secretary of State, Senator Hillary Clinton, of mounting a highly sophisticated cyber attack on the corporate infrastructure of the search engine giant and several other US companies.

A spokesman representing China’s IT ministry, told Xinhua.net, which is the official news website of the Chinese government, that “Whether through explicit or implicit means, criticizing 'Chinese government participation in hacking attacks' is totally baseless. We resolutely oppose this.”

Meanwhile, China’s strict internet censorship laws were defended by the country’s State Council, which said that restricting certain information over the internet was completely legal under the Chinese law.

Xinhua reported that a spokesperson of the State Council clarified that China’s laws protect freedom of speech and information over the internet but the laws also prohibit the use of internet for subverting the government, destroying national unity or spreading porn or violent content.

Google had threatened to close its China operations if the Chinese government does not allow it to operate in a censorship-free environment.

Our Comments

A few weeks ago, Google, the US-based search engine giant, announced to the world that a cyber attack, targeting Gmail accounts of some Chinese human rights activists, had originated from China. It is certainly interesting that China responded so forcefully to accusations that it supports hacking.